The trailer for Venom: The Last Dance features a puzzling Spider-Man: No Way Home continuity error, raising questions over when and where the film takes place.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Mordo in the Doctor Strange movies, makes an appearance in the trailer for the MCU-adjacent Venom film. He turns up at what appears to be the same bar from the No Way Home post-credits scene to collect the symbiote left behind after Tom Hardy's Eddie got pulled back into the Sony-verse.
The original bar scene occurred in the MCU, with Cristo Fernandez playing the barkeeper — a role he appears to be reprising in the Venom trailer. Ejiofor, however, is wearing army gear during his Venom-catching duties, indicating that he is portraying a different character than the one he has portrayed in the MCU up to now.
As IGN points out in the video below, it is possible that Ejiofor is now playing multiple characters in the MCU. After all, it wouldn't be the first time this has happened (take Gemma Chan, for example, who played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvelbut later starred as Sersi in Eternals), but it is also possible that it is a plot hole.
Venom: The Last Dance's latest trailer introduces a puzzling continuity error (but does it even matter?) pic.twitter.com/wG61FCnkvF
— IGN (@IGN) June 3, 2024
One Redditor questioned whether it meant the No Way Home post-credits scene took place in the Venom universe all along, while others wondered if Fernandez' could be playing a variant of his character, which means the trailer scene is a red herring, even though the signs point to it being a continuation of No Way Home.
Those on X/Twitter also voiced their concerns about the apparent continuity error. People expressed confusion over Ejiofor's appearance in the symbiote-splattered bar, with posts containing side-by-side images of his character in Venom: The Last Dance and Mordo in the MCU to highlight that "the multiverse is making it weird."
So you’ve got Chiwetel Ejiofor in Venom 3 as a new character, which takes place in its own universe. But right here he’s in the MCU & he’s not playing Baron Mordo, who he previously played in the MCU…
— Craig (@CS11__) June 3, 2024
& he’s taking back the symbiote that was left in the MCU. Good Job Sony! pic.twitter.com/wzVoxHe1L9
Saw the Venom trailer and it looks ass, as expected.
— Th3Birdman (@Th3birdman15) June 4, 2024
But I have questions. Like, why cast the actor that plays Mordo? Why was not-Mordo in 616 collecting the symbiote? Doesn’t that ruin No Way Home’s end credit scene? Does this mean no Venom in Spider-Man 4?
Wtf?! pic.twitter.com/oaCkjpX0fz
Am I the only one finding it weird that Mordo is now in Venom The Last Dance?
— HeJaWolf ? (@Hejawol0602) June 3, 2024
Not complaining though because I like the guy, but the multiverse is making it weird ?#Venom pic.twitter.com/bvku5zVrvJ
My head hurts from that #Venom trailer…this bar was in the MCU and Eddie went back to his universe leaving this piece behind…soooo how is Mordo taking the sample from the bar? ? pic.twitter.com/wjcOmIxNSo
— Ways Of The Sith (@WaysOfTheSith) June 3, 2024
So with casting Chiwetel Ejiofor, either we’re getting a Mordo sneaky crossover with Venom 3 or they’re doubling down on it being separate wholly from the MCU now.
— The Dave Cave (@TheDaveCave_) June 3, 2024
Weird choice either way.
Rhys Ifans, who played The Lizard in two Spider-Man movies, also appears in the trailer at 1:59, playing a character who doesn't seem to be one fans are familiar with.
Fortunately, there is not too long to wait to find out what it all means as Venom: The Last Dance, the final piece of the trilogy, hits theaters on October 25, 2024 — two weeks ahead of its previously announced November release date but a few months after the original plan to release it this month.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
